Moderators
Moderators are Namco-selected volunteer users who oversee the forums and ensure that rules are followed. They have authority over the forums and its users, and are able to edit, move and delete posts and topics in accordance to the rules and to maintain order. On the Tales forums, all moderators are "global moderators". They are also given supplementary permission to ban users and IP addresses, a power that is usually reserved for administrators in PHPBB. It is possible that moderators have full access to the "User Administration" section of the Administration Panel—for instance, normal moderators are able to change signature and avatar settings, which can be found in said section. The moderators' performance, in general, is a controversial subject among the regular members; some of them have spoken out against the moderation team on various occasions throughout the forums' history. While there have been some heated arguments in the past, there have been very few actual conflicts. In response to criticism in the previous weeks, the team recognized that they were short-staffed and elected three new moderators in September of 2007: Ryke Masters, Ryuuko and Shadowfox. At the same time, three moderators, Aku, Caramelpopcorn and Morwen, were removed from the moderator list due to their extended inactivity or formal leave from the forum, in order to clean up the Moderators group and make contacting active moderators less error-prone for non-regular posters on the forums. List of moderators and administrators Criticism As authoritative figures, the moderators have often been subject to criticism. Furthermore, the various parties involved often contradict each other with opposing stances—at any given time, there have always been users wishing for a stricter system, and others a more lenient system. This has been cause for eDrama and exodus or account suicide on multiple occasions. In August of 2007, there was a surge of public criticism. In fact, various topics have been created since August 11, 2007, on recent decisions or overall performance. The first notable event was the temporary suspension of Abicion, as per the system, following an argument over Private Messages with Sataka, who initially reported it. Both parties were assigned points for flaming, but Abicion received a greater amount that pushed him over the suspension threshold. He claimed injustice on his blog, arguing that users were instructed to take off-topic arguments to private messages and that the two parties' punishments were unjustly unequal; he accused most of the moderators of favoritism. Particularly, he attempted to put Lady's objectivity into question, as she was the admin that originally acted on the case. Upon the end of his band, he posted a topic in the Rules and Suggestions forum, again declaring the moderators as incompetent and promoting favoritism. Sataka claimed that Abicion was attacking him directly despite his attempts to maintain a civil argument. later conceded that setting up Abicion and reporting him, through spite for his spam, was childish and that he would be willing to even out their punishments. Public criticism of the moderators' performance was rising again, this time on their inability to act on certain problems, such as what many perceive as spam on Abicion and possibly other users' parts, largely off-topic discussion, arguments and flame wars, in a timely fashion. The small number of truly active moderators concentrated mostly in American time zones and their consequently heavy individual workload are seen as the current major causes of these problems. Others have also commented on the relative difficulty to contact a part of the team outside of the forums, should need arise. In addition, two of the most inactive moderators, caramel_popcorn and Morwen, have been suggested for demotion due to their extended, possibly permanent, absence from the Tales forums or the internet. In fact, the moderation team has acknowledged the problem and has taken measures to select candidates for the position of moderator. They expect to promote three to four new moderators. As of August 24, the candidates have been selected and contacted, and the moderation team is only waiting for the candidates' responses and approval from Namco. Shortly beforehand, The Dan revealed his alt, Dont_Be_A_Hero, which had gone undetected until then, in an attempt to appeal his ban. However, his IP address was banned before he could come into contact with a moderator. This revived the old argument of whether old banned members should ever be given a second chance if they've reformed, and it sparked a controversy that has remained relatively minor on the public face regarding whether or not members banned prior to the rule reforms should be allowed another chance. Those opposed usually argue that the old system was extremely lenient, having required very severe or prolonged offences before finally being banned; thus, there would be no use in giving them second chances. Hero_of_courage, in particular, has been subject to criticism for his recent actions, which is considered less than exemplary and totalitarian. These issues include locking his own topic in which users were criticizing him and calling them "fools" (he later restated that their actions and opinions were foolish), and removing another user's signature that used his image without his approval. References Category:Forum Users Category:Moderators